Ship’s Owners Try to Limit Their Liability From Baltimore Bridge Collapse
BALTIMORE — Owners of the cargo ship that brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last week in a collision filed a petition in federal court Monday that would limit their liability to $43.6 million, which is roughly the value of the damaged ship.
They denied any negligence that could raise their liability.
Initial insurance industry estimates indicate the collision and bridge collapse could be the most expensive maritime disaster in history with damages as high as $4 billion.
The “limitation of liability” petition was filed by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., which owns the MV Dali, and Synergy Marine Private Ltd., the management company for the 984-foot long container ship.
“The [bridge collapse] was not due to any fault, neglect or want of care on the part of petitioners, the vessel or any persons or entities for whose acts petitioners may be held responsible,” says the petition filed in the U.S. District Court of Baltimore.
The ship lost power before the collision, causing it to veer to the right and strike a critical support beam for the bridge.
“Alternatively, if any such faults caused or contributed to the [bridge collapse], or to any loss or damage arising out of the casualty, which is denied, such faults were occasioned and occurred without petitioners’ privity or knowledge,” the petition says.
Before the collision, they said the MV Dali was valued at $90 million.
The petition invokes an 1851 law limiting their liability to the value of the ship and its cargo. The same law allowed owners of the Titanic to limit their liability after the passenger ship sank in 1912.
If the ship was not considered seaworthy, the only limit the law would place on Grace Ocean’s liability would be the damages the plaintiffs could prove.
The claims are likely to include wrongful death for six workers killed on the bridge, trade interruption from closure of the nation’s ninth largest port and costs to remove and replace damaged portions of the bridge, according to maritime lawyers.
Global insurance rating service Morningstar DBRS estimated losses from the bridge collapse at $2 billion to $4 billion. The estimate includes about $400 million to rebuild the bridge.
The MV Dali is insured by the Britannia Protection and Indemnity Club. Attorneys for the insurer estimated repairs to the ship will cost more than $28 million, salvage another $19.5 million and damage to freight is about $1.1 million.
Lawyers who reviewed footage of the collision are saying a strong case could be made against the seaworthiness of the vessel after its power failed while approaching the Key Bridge.
In addition, the MV Dali has a history of inspection failures and a previous crash into a quay at the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016.
Another legal issue touches on the appropriate forum. The accident took place in U.S. territorial waters but the ship is owned by a Singapore company.
The ship’s owners are arguing the city of Baltimore and state of Maryland might share allegations of negligence for not placing barriers, also known as fenders, around the bridge supports to protect them from collisions. Most bridge designs in the past 30 years with ships that pass under them call for fenders.
“We don’t need this to happen again,” maritime lawyer Steven Yerrid told CNN in an interview.
The 91,128 gross tonnage MV Dali hit the bridge with a force estimated by engineers at 30 million tons. It was carrying nearly 4,700 containers and traveling 9 mph.
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